Thoughts on ethnic and international conflicts and the democratic ideal.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Syria and chemical arms

Obama has declared that Syrian use of chemical arms is for him a red line. I have always distrusted that statement. To me it has always suggested that Obama is biding his time before he will interfere in Syria and that at that time he will use the chemical weapons claim as his WMD excuse.

As recently the US has upgraded its station in Jordan to a level that is capable of organizing military attacks I am not amazed that now suddenly Obama is claiming chemical weapons have been used in Syria. As usual with media master Obama things have been well orchestrated with first some NATO allies and Israel making the claims so that the public is prepared. Not surprisingly there is no evidence for us to see.

In the case of the UN chemical arms investigation Western diplomacy has once again shown itself from its worst side. First they agreed to an investigation of one specific case. And then they changed their mind, claimed that it might be used as propaganda by Assad and demanded an investigation of all accusations - what Syria and Russia predictably refused.

They may have had serious fears that it might turn out that the rebels were responsible for this incident. Obviously that would be embarrassing for politicians who are committed to regime change in Syria.

The claim that the investigation would be propaganda for Assad sounds hollow to me. A well accomplished investigation would build trust and open the door to other investigations.

About this blog

What makes people support a leader or a government and what makes them associate themselves with a country? These core issues in international relations fascinate me and I am looking for work studying those issues. I studied psychology and anthropology.